Tuesday, 27 October 2015

Distribution map of Caloplaca flavovirescens in UKCaloplaca flavovirescens forms big pale yellow egg-yolk coloured patches (up to 15 or 20cm) and the margin of the patch is whitish. It should be called Fried Egg Lichen.
Around here it seems to grow on cement type substrata.
I have found it in four places:
1. E and J's house doorstep, Stackhouse Lane2. The Locks, Langcliffe3. One patch on a stone in the north wall at Horton Churchyard4. Paving stone beside War Memorial outside Ingleton Churchyard

1. It grows on the front doorstep of a house on Stackhouse Lane overlooking the school

A drop of strong alkali - in this case sodium hydroxide solution - turns the minute fruiting bodies from orange to crimson

Here, another species of Caloplaca (Caloplaca holocarpa - grey with orange fruiting bodies) isgrowing next to it, and prevents the C flavovirescens from making a circular patch

Frank Dobson's Lichens book is placed near the Caloplaca flavo-virescens, with a view across the road to the school trees

This morning (27 Oct 2015) I went down to The Locks at Langcliffe to rephotograph the Caloplaca flavovirescens It also on the wall top to the north of the stone "bridge/dam" at the top end of the Locks, and next to the stile opposite.

This is front right in the picture above,.. though it is on the wall to the left of me above that

Wednesday, 21 October 2015

Most lichens have disc shaped reproductive bodies. Arthonia radiata has reproductive bodies that look like little black stars or ink blobs
"The thallus (body) of the lichen is a smooth, greyish white crust
with embedded, black, variable but usually irregularly stellate
apothecia (fruiting bodies) (typically 1-2mm in diameter);"

Arthonia radiata disappeared from areas where there was a lot of sulphur dioxide pollution in the air (during the industrial revolution and up to the smogs of the 1950s. ) However the air has become cleaner with respect to sulphur dioxide and lichenologists are finding it in lots of places now.

Whilst I was there I met Tony and Wendy Carroll busy strimming and raking the long grass in the churchyard and discovering memorials under the mounds of False Oat-grass. They told me about the team of volunteers from the village (and elsewhere) that has just started meeting on Monday afternoons to maintain the churchyard.

The front is always neatly maintained - Here the holly berries are out in autumn but will be gone by Christmas

2009

Prof Mark Seaward showed me some on a beech tree in this churchyard in 2009, when he ran the lichens day here for the Institute of Biology

I went back to that tree on 21 Oct 2015 and the patch is still there.

(I think this is the Arthonia .. I am open to correction.. the ink blots do seem to have stretched horizontally somewhat.

Sunday, 18 October 2015

Here is the display on the noticeboard in St John's Church Hall, Settle

From the side

The two side banners are all in French. It is a fun infographic (For those who do not understand French, well, the posters are jolly. Concentrate on the central material.)

I will be interested to see peoples reactions.
I wanted to include an answer to the questions:-

"What evidence is there of local climate change - and how does this affect Farmers especially financially, and wildlife?"

1. We used to have much colder winters. There was lots of snow in the winters 1979 to 1983. Ask the local farmers, they will remember them.
2. Fewer frosty days over winter means it is harder to find days to drive on the land when it is hard to do muck spreading.
3. Graphs from the weather records at Malham Tarn Field Centre show that we have had more days with extremely heavy rainfall (Thanks to David Hodgson and Robin Sutton) recently: In 1961 there were on average 4 days with more than 3cm (1 inch) of rainfall in a day, and by 2011 there were on average 6 days with heavy rain a year. This is more pronounced when you look at the number of days per year with more that 6cm (2 inch)
4. Church wardens and building officers elsewhere report that they have to put bigger gutters and dig bigger drainage channels to cope with the heavier downpours.

Wildlife:-

1.) We have more species of butterfly now than 40 years ago. The Speckled Wood has appeared since 2000. The comma has appeared.
.

Speckled Wood

.

Map derived from NBN gateway

2. - (Not necessarily climate change) At Malham Tarn Field Centre the Reeds growing in a few pools have extended the area they cover. This is of concern as they are out-competing more delicate rare plants which grow on the fen there.(This could be due to warmer weather, or more likely due to to increased nitrogen compounds which act as fertilizer arriving in the rain. Or it could just be natural succession..)

However, Climate change is not distributed evenly over the planet. Inf fact the Irish sea is often seen to be getting colder (minus 0.3 degrees). And We in Settle are half way between the Irish Sea which is getting colder and the mainland of Europe which is getting hotter (up to 2.5 degrees). so maybe we cannot expect to see big changes.

This year we had a cold late spring (though in fact that worked out well for many of the crops)

I am not 100% sure that presence OR absence of examples of local climate change now in UK is strongly correlated with the amount of Climate change we are going to get. However:-

The concentration of CO2 and other climate gases (Methane from cattle and mining and industry and rubbish tips; nitrogen oxides from cars and slurry and manure and fertilizer; CFCs from various sources), are definitely increasing, and this is a cumulative process.

The sea is warming. (93% of the heat energy absorbed in the greenhouse effect goes to warming our huge oceans, only 2.5% goes to warming the air). This causes it to expand.

These two things are happening and may be harbouring up problems for the near future.

Part of my love of nature is understanding or finding explanations for phenomena I see around me. It is good to try and work out why the weather and soil and vegetation are as they are, and to observe changes.

People like to see and understand weather and features where they live.

The politicians will have to make difficult decisions about how to reduce climate change, and will need to carry the public with them.

It's 23 years since the Earth Summit at Rio.. 23 year since we had the poster at Malham Chapel inviting people to use the building to pray for the Earth Summit.

Could your church put up a poster inviting prayers for the talks at Paris?
In the 23 years since then, the mean air temperature has risen between 0.2° and 0.4° -- but this is uneven - some places have risen much more, some less.Here are graphs of changes .. (click to get bigger picture or go to source - page 6 and 7 (38 +39) of the 2013 IPCC Report, or better to the shorter, clearer 2013 summary for policy makers)

Observed change in surface temperature 1901–2012

You can see that the Atlantic to the West of Ireland has actually got colder.

Saturday, 17 October 2015

Bentham's Eco-Prayer Walk is now the fourth "Walk for Creation" of Pilgrimage I have been on. It was organised by Rev Timothy Fox, and nine of us joined him from three different denominations and from 5 different churches. We were blessed by fine calm autumnal weather.
We remembered other groups that are taking part in pilgrimages now, leading up to the Conference in Paris

We met at the Horse and Farrier at 2pm and set off on our 3 mile walk.

Looked at Lichens with hand-lenses. I mentioned that someone at the Coventry Conference had said Lichens were an "extreme" example of reconciliation in the the algae and fungi in Lichens need to live together

Saw an old mill in Bentham

Saw a garden with working model railway and slumbering cat.

Stopped on a bridge on the Leeds to Carnforth railway next to a crab apple tree. father Paul Hypher .. read paragraph 240 from Laudato Si - about the Trinity and everything being linked

Reading from Laudato Si

We saw two butterflies in a hedge. a) a "Speckled Wood" - it flew away. This picture here is one I took in 2005, also near the Wenning four miles away, when it was one of the first ones which had been seen in this area. It has been spreading north. (Climate change?) Look at subsp tircis in the map from the NBN Gateway.

.

.

b) a"Red Admiral which posed obligingly. These are much more common

We walked through a caravan site which keeps extending along beside the river Wenning.

Then beside the Wenning. We - well especially Sue picked up litter as we walked along. Collette read an amusing piece about children sharing food.

Some of the flowers seen en route include Herb Robert, Yarrow, Betony, Wood False-brome, Ivy in bud, Ground-ivy in leaf only (it has a strong smell)

The "summit" of our journey was - our "deepest" point - to the Wenning oak, a huge old oak tree, in a bend in the river, its old roots exposed. Timothy Fox read a piece about trees.

Timothy said "Look downstream - can you see something unnatural?"
We looked and someone spotted the carpet. It has become colonised by algae.

We thought about all the plastic being washed out to sea.. and were glad that at least the new law on plastic bags had started.

We returned via a shorter route over the railway. Just before Bentham we stopped again and Timothy read a passage by Vaclav Habel about Hope

If you look at the video full screen size you may notice that he had taken the quote from Green Christian's monthly prayer guide - September 2015.

Thank you everyone for coming. and thank you reader for accompanying us on this walk.

I nipped back to Settle to collect Bill Mitchell (former editor of the Dalesman), and we arrived in time for the tea before the evening service.Bill, who attends St John's Methodist Church, used to come here as a local preacher many years ago.. (60 years ago??) - and tells how he would leave in time to get the bus back to Skipton.A feature of the afternoon was to troop outside and have our photograph taken - to match the photo taken 50 years ago.(Numbers being augmented this time by people from round the circuit plus former ministers and friends from afar.Bill is fourth from left, middle row. (Third from left is John Geldart)Lead me O, though great Jehovah,Rev Atkinson.. trying to organise us ready to take the photograph

Bill,second from left

Rev David Emmison (who used to be minister here and at Skipton) came back to lead the service

Subscribe To The Rainforest Fund, Settle

So far we have raised ..

December: £235 made up of £191 at Coffee morning - £127 for Coffee and cakes, £64 for cards; plus £10.50 from Cards sold at Settle Spinners and £20 from one person buying cards and £23.50 from other cards - Total for 2017: £557:

______________________

Sep-Nov 2017: £32.50 including £19.50 from Green Christian JIE Conference and £13 from Cards at Growing with Grace (Total-£312)

______________________

June - Aug 2017: £72.50 including £68 from the talk on "Wildflower Walks around Settle" (Total for 2017: £279.50)

In Dec 2012 - so far - £137 :£65 from Rainforest Coffee morning at church. The following is all from cards: £25.5 from sale of cards at coffee morning, and £25 from cards near coffee morning; : £8 at Langcliffe Inst, £13 Growing with grace £10-50 Wholesome Bee, (Total for 2012 = £712)

In June 2012: £40 : from sale of cards:£18 from people from Scargill House on my wildflowers walk and £16 from Age UK people at haymeadow talk (Total for 2012 = £370)

_________________________

In May 2012: £74 : including from cards (£14 from sale of cards at Taitlands Tea room at Stainforth; £15 from CCG meeting at Lower Winskill; £20 from Flowers course at Malham Tarn Field Centre; £17 (Total for 2012 = £330)

_________________________

In April 2012: £26: from cards (£15 from A Rocha group at Scargill House (Total for 2012 = £256)

_________________________

In March 2012: £130: from cards including £75 from Christian Ecology Link Conference at Bristol and £35 donation from Settle Spinners and £20 from Cards in the foyer at St John's (Total for 2012 = £230)

In Dec 2011: £240 including £90from cards including £32.50 from Langcliffe Inst Christmas Sale, £11-00 at WI pantomine, £20 from people at Settle Christmas Day Lunch and £150 donation (Total for 2011 = £1,000)

_________________________

In Nov 2011: £50: From cards including £19.50 from Scottish Dancing (Total for 2011 = £760)

_________________________

In Oct 2011: £110: From cards including £45 from Worsley Church and £50 from Settle Mothers Union (Total for 2011 = £710)

_________________________

In Sept 2011: £30: From cards (Total for 2011 = £600)

_________________________

In August 2011: £20: From cards (Total for 2011 = £570)_________________________

In July 2011: £50: From £36 donation form Settle Spinners, (£6-00 cards from Settle Spinners and £8.00 cards from others (Total for 2011 = £550)_________________________

In June 2011: £85: From the profit from the Saltaire Ladies group who came for salad tea at the church hall - £29 plus the cards they bought - £16.50; The Flowers course at Malham Tarn bought £26 of cards. (Total for 2011 = £500)_________________________In April- May 2011: £55 - From My saving buying food on "Live for a £1-00 a day week": £10; Rest from cards including 1 person at Scottish dancing £15 and people at Plantlife day: £16.50 (Total for 2011 = £415)_________________________

In March 2011: £145 - Mostly from sale of cards including:- £50 from CEL conference, £25 from Horton History Society, £26 from WYSOCS; Also a £20 donation (Total for 2011 = £360)_________________________

In Feb 2011: £65 - all from sale of cards including:- £26 from Austwick Field Society and £25 from Settle Gardening Club (Total for 2011 = £215)_________________________

Starting again..in 2011: £150 in by 31 January 2011 including £109 from the Barn Dance and £26 from cards_________________________

£2600 (£600 in 2010) by Dec 31 2010 - Mostly from Greeting cards, but also £32.21 from Settle Spinners and some from a donation._________________________

£2420 (£420 in 2010) by Sept 20 2010 - From the St John's Coffee Morning in August (£106) . Also from the sale of Greetings Cards, including £28 worth from people on courses at Malham Tarn Field Centre - Acrylics, Grasses, Settle Carlisle Line and Staff)_________________________

£2250 (£250 in 2010) by June 30 2010 - Mostly from the sale of Greetings Cards, including £20 worth from people at "Folk at the Falcon" and £30 from one lady who came to the NISCU evening, and £20 donation from people who came on the Environment Sunday Walk._________________________

£2125 (£125 in 2010) by March 31 2010 - including £100 from sale of Greetings Cards and Calendars and another £25 from collection by Settle Spinning Club

_________________________Nov - December 31st 2009 - including sale of Christmas Cards and Calendars

(Total for 2009 = £567 )_________________________Sep-October 2009 - £60-00:- £52 donations at Day of Prayer on 4 Oct. £8-00 from energy meter and sale of cards

(Total for 2009 = £450)_________________________May-August 2009: £68 - £40 from cards from Choir from Dewsbury, £8-00 from profit on sale of tweezers and lenses, £10- from part of Burton in Lonsdale Ceilidh money, £8-00 sale of cards

(Total for 2009 = £47) _________________________£1433 by December 29th 2008 - including £70 from Settle WI£14 from selling Speaking Tips Booklets£70 from selling home-made Christmas cards_________________________£1279 by November 29th 2008- including £25 from a Langcliffe Singer Lady who is giving it to World Land Trust to a relation as a Christmas Present; £35 from Langcliffe Singers; and donations from a couple for receiving computing tuition_________________________£1172 by October 29th- 2008 including £50 made up from donations from 6 people who borrowed the Owl monitor, and an individual donation for £50 - Thanks._________________________£1050 by September 29th 2008 includingover £100 from the "Addingham Friendly Hour" minibus trip where we made them tea)_________________________£920 by July 29th -2008- includinga donation of £4 by a person borrowing an OWL meter - (for monitoring electricity usage)_________________________£883 by June 20th 2008- includinga donation of £100 for Cool Earth by Settle Line Dance Class at the Church Hall and £10 as the first donation online for Cool Earth, and two other donations._________________________£752 by May 20th 2008 includinga donation of £100 for World Land Trust by a family who donated half an acre of land (£25) for each of their four nephews and nieces, who received certificates._________________________£652 by April 19th 2008- includinga donation of £65 from the group who came for coffee_________________________£587 by April 14th 2008- including£160 for A Rocha Ghana£312 for World Land Trust (including £25 online donation and £30 from Scottish Country Dancing at the Hall£115 for Cool Earth_________________________£467 by April 5th 2008- including£110 for A Rocha Ghana£292 for World Land Trust (including £25 online donation and £30 from Scottish Country Dancing at the Hall£65 for Cool Earth_________________________

£392 by March 9th 2008- including£90 for A Rocha Ghana£237 for World Land Trust£65 for Cool Earth_________________________

£295 by February 9th 2008£80 for A Rocha Ghana and£215 for World Land Trust (which will buy 4 acres of forest.)